Visitor Center - Laurel Highlands (Ohiopyle State Park) Falls Area, Pennsylvania - Tourist Information Centers - Visitor Centers on Waymarking.com

Ohiopyle State Park Visitor Center


The new Laurel Highlands Falls Area Visitor Center in Ohiopyle State Park in Fayette County, a two-story, 11,500-square-foot fieldstone and glass building that overlooks the Youghiogheny River, has opened to the public.

The $9 million building and its grounds quietly opened to the public in mid-September 2014. A grand opening is scheduled in the spring after everything is in place.

Visitors on the upper level of the building can orient themselves to the surroundings in three ways: A colorful terrazzo floor mosaic outlines the park and its natural landmarks, a large wall map just inside the door highlights the park and its proximity to major and local highways, and there is a chest-high, table-sized topographical map to peruse.

A set of doors leads to a roof garden with limited standing room that visitors can use to take photographs of the park’s signature 18-foot-high waterfall.

The nucleus of a gift shop beside her desk offers information about the park and the 28-mile segment of the Great Allegheny Passage bike trail that passes through the area. There are also public restrooms.

Visitors who walk down the 24 steps to the lower level pass an impressive sculpture depicting a couple paddling a gray shredder, resembling an inflatable catamaran minus a mast, in foaming whitewater crafted of fiberglass.

The lower level, which also can be reached via an elevator, has floor-to-ceiling glass windows that overlook the river.

A concrete pavilion outside the center provides another vantage point from which to photograph the falls.

Two water fountains are mounted on the outside of the center next to a phone that can be used for free local calls.

There are three handicapped parking spaces near the building and a large parking lot a short walk away.

Street Address
124 Main Street
Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania 15470

Telephone:
(724) 329-8591

The ranger station is open 8:00a-4:00p (Eastern Time) Mon-Friday, all year and on weekends and holidays during the summer months (generally Memorial Day-Labor Day) Restroom Facilities, Water Fountains, and Public Phone are available daily year-round from 8:00 a.m. - sunset

This location replaces the former visitor center which has been in existence as the town's train station and was converted into a visitor center in 1986 and was renovated to meet the growing needs of park visitors in 2001.The former location will remain to be used as a restroom facility for those using the Great Allegheny Passage.

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